On Friday night, Trump was holding a rally in Alabama — yes, our sitting president who has been in office less than a year regularly holds campaign-style rallies to inflate his ego — in which he made some inflammatory remarks about protesting football players.

In short, he said NFL owners should fire the players who kneel during the National Anthem. And he said it in the crudest way:

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired. He's fired!'"

Yep. Our president used an expletive in a public speech attacking private citizens who are peacefully protesting.

Though he didn't mention Colin Kaepernick by name, he is at the vanguard of this controversy. So his mom responded to the "son of a bitch" comment with an AMAZING quip:

It should be noted in that same speech he also rattled off the opinion that penalties for hitting too hard, installed to protect players from concussions, are "ruining the game."

Shortly after this, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry was so offended by this (and presumably everything that came before) he decided not to attend the traditional visit by the NBA champs to the White House.

U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 23, 2017

Ha!

But Trump had moved on from a feud with a specific player. He decided he wanted to take on the entire NFL.

On Saturday, Drumpf doubled down:

If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

…our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

If you haven't seen it, longtime sports journalist Bob Costas gave an epic response to this argument, pointing out that peaceful protest and dissent are some of the most patriotic things you can do in a free country.

After NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Trump's comments showed an "unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players," Trump responded:

Roger Goodell of NFL just put out a statement trying to justify the total disrespect certain players show to our country.Tell them to stand!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017

On Sunday, he actually encouraged his followers to boycott watching the games:

If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017

This is clearly on very shaky ground ethically — the POTUS directing people to boycott a private American business — and he's already had a complaint filed against him with the Office of Government Ethics.

Oh, and if you're like us and know to look for the tweet from Barack Obama's presidency that proves Trump is being a total hypocrite about this, look no further:

President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name-our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them,not nonsense
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2013

Every time.

So on Sunday when it came time for football players to stand for the National Anthem, all eyes were on their reactions, which… varied.

At latest count more than 200 players league-wide didn't stand for the anthem. Trump's friend Tom Bradydoesn't have his back. The Pittsburg Steelers didn't show up on the field at all!

Let's be honest here. Trump ran on a platform of hate. He painted Mexicans as criminals as he threw his hat in the ring. He regularly fans the flames of Islamophobia. His wall, aside from being completely idiotic, is as xenophobic a policy as we've ever heard. The first time he even dipped his toe into the political world was to declare Obama wasn't really an American.

So his core supporters, the ones he's courted from the beginning, are racists. And he can't lose them. They're all he has left.

Besides the cowardly Republican party that let him hijack them we mean.

2. Ego

Trump KNOWS so much of this is about him.

He's the one who is embarrassing and demeaning our country, he's the one making us all look bad, he's the one emboldening Nazis. It's 2017, and we have a Nazi problem! Let that soak in.

He's making every problem with our country worse.

So as the leader of the United States, he takes it as a personal slight when players kneel during its anthem, when they don't stand for the flag. And we know how he reacts to criticism.

And he's petty enough to start a war with an organization like the NFL over it.